It’s easy to think these guys are from a sunny spot in the south of Spain because Winston Surfshirt are doing something so unique in the Sydney music scene. This four piece smoke-bombed their way into Manly about a year ago and since then, they have been producing the fattest, funkiest bass-heavy jams, where the vocals teeter between mellow rap and dulcet singing.
Sporting some of the fattest funky bass lines in town, Sydney’s Winston Surfshirt bring the party (and dessert).
Having just had independently released their fourth album Sticky Date last November, the group nailed Hekfest at Oxford Arts Factory a couple weeks ago and already have another release in the works called Sponge Cake (do you notice a theme?), due to drop in the next couple of months.
The band channel a sound that hasn’t been actualized since the early days of Gorillaz and sounds a bit like how Talking Heads would if you gave David Byrne some badass flow and introduced him to dub. Members play bass, electric drums, trombone and the voice box, which explains the ultra dense, chilled out vibe the whole group so humbly puts forward. The band became somewhat local heroes when they performed on a houseboat for hundreds of fans crowding on the shore of a Manly beach late last year. Aside from being known for that, their latest album Sticky Date is a cheeky jam of an album that makes you instantly chill out in any stressful situation.
Winston Surfshirt started out as a solo project of Winston (A.KA. Brett) and has since become an eclectic collective of musicians. Sticky Date was produced in Winston’s and beat maker Bustlip’s (and guitarist of Chicks Who Love Guns) home, traveling to London only to record vocals at Abbott St studios as well as a few sessions in a warehouse to record trombone parts for the record. According to Brett Ramson (Winston), their new record is “Much more sample heavy and hip-hop than Sticky Date. Influences for this one have varied… but they would be J-Dilla, D’Angelo, Eryka Badu and Pharcyde”
One track on their latest record that really highlights what these guys are all about is Got The Party which does just that, it brings the party. The bopping trombone hook is balanced out with some rather spooky vocal and synth samples, and of course Winston’s smooth vocals assuring you that “we got the party”. You can get the whole album as a name your price download from their Bandcamp or from iTunes. Do it.
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